Skip to main content

Olympic Team Members Ichiyama and Maeda Lead Osaka International Women's Marathon Field


On Dec. 22 the Osaka International Women's Marathon announced the elite field for its 40th running on Jan. 31, 2021 at a live streamed press conference. Like Fukuoka, Osaka is going ahead with a reduced domestic field of just 99 entrants and no international athletes. Tokyo Olympics marathon team members Mao Ichiyama (Wacoal), winner of this year's Nagoya Women's Marathon in a women-only national record of 2:20:29, and trials winner and 30 km national record holder Honami Maeda (Tenmaya) lead the entry list. With none of Osaka's usual international pacers, Osaka will use male pacers to try to set things up for a shot at Mizuki Noguchi's 2:19:12 national record.

The unsponsored Reia Iwade is the only other athlete who could realistically try to go with them, and for the rest of the field, which includes last year's 2nd-place Japanese woman Haruka Yamaguchi (AC Kita), there will be other men to pace at around 2:25. With ten women from 2:25 to 2:29 on the list and debuts from quality half marathoners Ayumi Hagiwara (Toyota Jidoshokki) and Moeno Shimizu (Panasonic) that should be a pretty solid group.

One other interesting name in the field is 62-year-old Mariko Yugeta, who in November last year became the first woman over age 60 to ever break 3 hours in the marathon with a 2:59:15 at the Shimonoseki Kaikyo Marathon. Yugeta qualified for Osaka earlier this month at the Osaka 30 km Road Race and will be the oldest woman ever to run it.

The Osaka International Women's Marathon will be broadcast live on Jan. 31. Check back closer to race day for more info on broadcast and streaming options.

40th Osaka International Women's Marathon

Elite Field Highlights
Osaka, 31 Jan. 2021
times listed are best within last three years except where noted

Mao Ichiyama (Wacoal) - 2:20:29 (Nagoya 2020)
Honami Maeda (Tenmaya) - 2:23:48 (Osaka Int'l 2018)
Reia Iwade (Chiba T&F Assoc.) - 2:23:52 (Nagoya 2019)
Mizuki Tanimoto (Tenmaya) - 2:25:28 (Nagoya 2019)
Ayano Ikemitsu (Kagoshima Ginko) - 2:26:07 (Nagoya 2019)
Haruka Yamaguchi (AC Kita) - 2:26:45 (Osaka Int'l 2020)
Madoka Nakano (Iwatani Sangyo) - 2:27:39 (Osaka Int'l 2019)
Yukari Abe (Shimamura) - 2:28:02 (Osaka Int'l 2019)
Mao Uesugi (Starts) - 2:28:02 (Nagoya 2019)
Shiho Kaneshige (GRlab Kanto) - 2:28:51 (Osaka Int'l 2020)
Shiho Takechi (Yamada Holdings) - 2:29:12 (Nagoya 2019)
Marie Imada (GRlab) - 2:29:35 (Saitama 2018)
Miharu Shimokado (Saitama T&F Assoc.) - 2:29:38 (Gold Coast 2018)
Hiroko Baino (Memolead) - 2:30:09 (Fukuoka 2019)
Anna Matsuda (Kyocera) - 2:30:35 (Nagoya 2020)
Mirai Waku (Univ. Ent.) - 2:33:03 (Asian Championships 2019)
Yuko Kawauchi (Nissei) - 2:33:57 (Nagoya 2019)
Yumiko Kinoshita (Tokyo T&F Assoc.) - 2:34:19 (Osaka Int'l 2019)
Tomomi Sawahata (Saitama T&F Assoc.) - 2:35:58 (Saitama 2018)
Kaoru Nagao (Sunfield AC) - 2:36:09 (Nagoya 2019)
Nao Isaka (Runs) - 2:36:48 (Katsuta 2019)
Hiroko Miyauchi (Hokuren) - 2:37:05 (Nagoya 2018)
Ruka Nakamura (Kojima Press) - 2:38:32 (Nagoya 2018)
Nozomi Kawato (JC Group) - 2:38:43 (Tokyo 2019)

Debut
Ayumi Hagiwara (Toyota Jidoshokki) - 1:10:16 (Nat'l Corp. Half 2019)
Moeno Shimizu (Panasonic) - 1:12:45 (Matsue Ladies Half 2018)
Rui Nishida (Sysmex) - 1:13:34 (Osaka Half 2018)
Yumika Nagahama (Osaka Geijutsu Univ.) - 1:13:37 (Nat'l Univ. Half 2019)
Mitsuki Furuta (Hagoromo Kokusai Univ.) - 1:13:52 (Kansai Univ. Half 2020)
Mariko Ueno (Bukkyo Univ.) - 1:13:59 (Kansai Univ. Half 2020)

© 2020 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

Buy Me A Coffee
Labels:

Comments

Stefan said…
I am very much looking forward to this event. I hope they have it live streamed. I was a bit surprised at the somewhat disappointing times on the weekend in the Sanyo Road Race Half Marathon so I'm hoping Ichiyama and Maeda and Iwade can give a great showing here. This will be the first marathon for Maeda since the MGC event if I'm not mistaken. I have a feeling the national record will not be broken but I hope I'm proved wrong.
December 23, 2020 at 3:49 AM
Eric in Seattle said…
Eric in Seattle. I think Ichiyama and Maeda are running well; did not how Iwade was unsponsored, but if she runs well she may get some support. I have some relatives in Tokyo, but none of us are allowed to travel from the US; but someday I will travel to Japan. Oh, I bought you another 10 coffees. Appreciate the website.
December 27, 2020 at 1:09 PM
Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

Waseda Leads Top 7 Teams Under Izumo Ekiden CR, Ivy League Best-Ever 3rd (updated)

3rd last year, Waseda University scored its first Izumo Ekiden win since 2010, taking almost 2 minutes off the CR and leading the top 7 teams under the old record of 2:07:51 for the complete 6-stage, 45.1 km course. Waseda was 16 seconds back in 7th after the First Stage, but its 2nd runner Ojiro Honda made that up easily and put them 6 seconds out front. A massive 22:56 CR for the 8.5 km Third Stage by Shadrack Kipkemei (Nihon Univ.) dropped Waseda back to 2nd even though its runner Ryuki Suzuki broke the old CR too, but back-to-back CR on the next 2 stages by 1st-year Haruki Niizuma and Shunpei Yamaguchi put anchor Shinsaku Kudo out of reach of the rest of the field. Kudo duly won the 10.2 km anchor stage in 29:00, bypassing a 2:06 time entirely for a new 2:05:56 CR, just under 2:48/km average pace for the complete course. Defending champ Koku Gakuin University struggled a bit in the first half of the race but came on strong in the longer second half with 4th and 5th runners...
Post a Comment
Read more

2026 Izumo Ekiden Preview

We're at the Ironman World Championships in Kona, Hawaii where JRN associate editor Mika Tokairin is making her debut here as an athlete after having come to Kona for years as a journalist. Next to Kona the most eyes worldwide will be on the Chicago Marathon , where a solid Japanese contingent is lining up including men's marathon NR holder Suguru Osako and half marathon NR holder Tomoki Ota , Kiyoshi Koga , and the other power couple in Japanese marathoning, last year's Berlin Marathon runner-up Akira Akasaki and Paris Olympics 6th-placer Yuka Akasaki . Osako's manager told JRN that he is going for the Asian Record of 2:04:43 held by Moroccan-born Bahraini El-Hassan El-Abbassi who was served up a 4-year suspension not long after setting the record. Last year's Warsaw Marathon winner Ryoma Takeuchi is at the Perth Running Festival marathon in Australia where he hopes to add a CR win to his PB at July's Gold Coast Marathon. On the home front Keita Satoh i...
Post a Comment
Read more

April's Kasumigaura Marathon Canceled

The organizing committee of the 31st Kasumigaura Marathon and International Blind Marathon has been working hard to develop safety and health protocols adequate to mitigate the risk of spreading the coronavirus at the event. But with increased case numbers in recent months and a number of prefectures remaining under an extended state of emergency declaration, the future outlook for the organizers' ability to hold the race safely remains uncertain. As a result, the decision has been made to cancel this year's race, originally scheduled for Apr. 18. The popular Kasumigaura Walking event held in tandem with the marathon has also been canceled due to the pandemic situation. We thank you for your understanding.  Translator's note: The Kasumigaura Marathon had 10,096 finishers in its last running in 2019. Its cancelation follows those of March's Tokushima Marathon and April's Nagano Marathon  earlier this week. The only major spring Japanese marathons still on the calen...
Post a Comment
Read more